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Diane Krugerbroke into Hollywood with a duo of big-budget adventure dramas,TroyandNational Treasure, both in 2004.
Shed spent her childhood polishing her English and her early adult years in Paris, speaking French.
A giant papier-mache DeLorean?Yeah, a giant one.
I sat in it, and they tilted it to make it look like its flying.
Honestly, the first day I was like, How do I pull this off?
Youre not really present because youre talking to a tennis ball.
Theres nothing to reference what situation youre in.
I was worried about that.
I would have been there months and months in any other film Ive done.
When do you ever get to do that?
The fun evil characters.
Growing up, I really loved Freddy Krueger [no relation].
I love Christoph Waltz inInglourious Basterds.
That was the first time I saw a villain who was so charming and nuanced at being a villain.
Itd be interesting to make a film like …Joker.
I would like to find my own Joker, my own version of the supervillain.
What stories did you construct around your dolls?
I find children always have darker imaginations than we think.I grew up in Germany, and I had Barbies.
Thats so wonderfully weird.
He demands that his actors also tap into their inner child.
The actors he works with are big kids, like Steve [Carell].
I wanted to do a lighter film.
I just had fun creating this strange accent and being a kid.
I usually do darker films.
You actually want to go to work.
In a way, it doesnt feel like work.
But people dont see me in comedies.
But you’re free to certainly get a laugh.
Youve got good deadpan.
Whats your go-to joke to tell at parties?Im not a huge joke teller.
I have one joke thats really funny, but it involves demonstration and thats gotten me through the years.
Youd have to describe it.
And I would have to lick your finger.
Youve licked peoples fingers.I have for shock value.
I made three films with Fabienne Berthaud and also a film with Agnieszka Holland.
A few of my best performances are with female directors.
Theres no pretty talk between actors and directors.
Not that the women are better directors, but I find the work tough.
You cant cheat the emotions.
And Germans in general can be very direct which doesnt go down so well in America.
Its the language by itself.
I like strong women.
They dont give a shit if youre pretty in that scene.
Theyre not scared of emotions, either.
It easily could have been either melodramatic or too cold.
I was working with nothing.
But he made it okay.
So he asked me to think of three different versions of German and record them for him.
We picked it together and adjusted it a little on set.
A lot of it is recorded after the shoot, in a booth.
I spent the first few days on set giving off-camera dialogue to Steve.
I kept dreaming about I laaaaf yoooooo for a long, long time; its so silly.
That phrase like that, in all my dreams.
[Long sigh] Ive been offered so many Nazi roles.
And Ive never really wanted to do it.
Ill only do it if its more obtuse.
How many movies do we need to see about that?
Thats just my opinion.
But watch, next year Ill be in more Nazi movies, Im sure.
Yes, dredging up a painful national history for work.
What more do we need to say aboutthattime?
Important question: Did you get to wear the blue bob wig?All computer generated.
I never got to wear any of the costumes.
They showed me sketches of little things.
The only thing I had was one purple glove.
